One player to keep an eye on in the Class of 2009 is Brandon Triche, a 6-foot-4, 210-pound combo guard from Dewitt (NY) Jamesville-Dewitt High in Syracuse.
This past season Triche averaged 20.2 points per game and led J-D High to State and Federation Class A titles. He was named the state’s Class A Player of the Year.
“He’s good. He reminds me of Deron Williams,” said Mickey Walker, Triche’s AAU coach with Upstate Basketball. “He’s not that far along. He’s a new kind of point guard, a power point. if you follow the NBA, the new point of point guard is actually Chris Paul.”
Triche tore his ACL in December of 2006 and spent a year rehabbing it.
“To me he’s still not really back into total form, but probably (he came back into form) after Christmas when they played Peekskill and lost by 2,” Walker said. “After that he really started playing a lot better.”
Triche has received offers from Syracuse, Rutgers, UConn, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech, and Florida State, among others, according to Walker. There was a report this past season that Triche had committed to Syracuse, but it was then retracted.
“To my knowledge everybody’s offered him a scholarship,” Walker said. “Syracuse offered him in ninth grade. And I would say the schools that I talk to the most are UConn, Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech and Georgetown. I also talk to Florida State quite a bit.”
Triche plays AAU ball with Dane Miller, the ’09 recruit who has already committed to Rutgers, along with Austin Johnson of Blair.
“You get a lot of guys that think they can change his mind (about coming to Rutgers),” Walker said of Miller. “I don’t think he would’ve done that if he wasn’t going to stick with it.”
Walker said Miller is excited about coming to Rutgers, especially after seeing ’08 recruit Mike Rosario of St. Anthony star in the McDonald’s All-American Game.
“I think seeing Rosario playing in the McDonald’s game really got him fired up,” Walker said. “They gave him a lot of attention (on TV). He got some great publicity.”
It has been good for Miller to commit early because he doesn’t have to worry about recruiting, the coach said.
“He’s just going about his business,” Walker said. “It’s good for him because he’s been able to concentrate on improving instead of concentrating on getting exposure.”
As for what type of game Miller plays, Walker called him a “point forward.”
“Dane, he’s a great player because he knows how to play,” Walker said. “He’s got a lot of skills. I don’t think he really fits a particular pigeon hole role, particularly in high school because they have to play him in the post. He’s a really good post defender. He’s more of a face-the-basket, put-the-ball-on-the floor type of player. He’s kind of like a point forward. He’s working on his shot. He makes shots, I wouldn’t call him a great shooter.”
Walker said Miller works out with former Syracuse and New York Knicks standout John Wallace, and that Wallace sometimes takes Miller to work out with the Syracuse players.
“John Wallace plays with him quite a bit. John Wallace will yell and scream at him for like an hour, just yell and scream at him,” Walker said.
Both Triche and Miller were invited to the Reebok All-American Camp June 6-10 in Philly and will likely attend, the coach said. They cannot attend the Nike position camps because school does not end until June 29.
(Photos courtesy Scout and Rivals)
